To keep track of my productivity, I will write my preparation for the last 20 days. Wish me luck!
P.S. Its filled with grammatical errors. So if you find many, congrats your SC is getting stronger!01-07-2011:Revisit to Error Log-Redid the incorrect SCs and CRs from previous
MGMAT CATs and Knewton Free CAT.
-Redid the incorrect Quant questions from previous
MGMAT CATs.
I wont do the SCs from Kaplan - did not find them much of value add!
Took the
MGMAT 4 for a 760 - Q49 V45 (9 mistakes in each section - 4 CR 2 SC and 3 RC)
Don't know what to make of this!
Bad News: The score seems inflated because I did not feel like writing the AWAs and I was so bored that I guessed on the last 5 quant questions - 2 turned out to be correct. Still plagued with silly mistakes -
MGMAT is tricky and subtle. Involves too much of calculation to drain out mental strength. Perhaps thats the reason for my low verbal scores.Verbal score is encouraging but inflated nevertheless.
Good News: I was very confident on RC and I saw 2 bold face questions, both of which were super tough and I got correct.
Perhaps I had a high score because I did not get a string of questions incorrect. That had been a problem earlier!
And I am done for the day with some analysis on the last
MGMAT!
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02-07-11: Error Log Review- I had the GMATPrep Docs. I did not want to touch them before exhausting the Prep Tests. But I was too tempted. So I opened the SC Document and practised 10 random questions. Got 4 INCORRECT! Crap, these sentences are much more complicated than anything in the
OG or the 11 mocks that I have taken. And that shattered my SC confidence. It wasn't the grammar, but the sentence itself is tricky. Saw the solutions to them on
MGMAT Forum, Ron agreed that they are tricky. I realise that the difficult SC questions are more about the original intent of the author and less about pure grammar. This will be very difficult.
- Nevertheless, I started working on
OG 12 questions I had gotten incorrect earlier. Got them all correct this time. They seemed like cakewalk - I could solve them in 30 secs.
- Re-did the 13-14 questions from Jeff Sackmann Extreme that I had gotten incorrect earlier. Got 3 incorrect again! I loved this set. It is difficult, yes, but very very good.
- I din study anything else today! Disappointing!
We had college results today so I was euphoric. Also I am feeling a little feverish, so rather I take rest and not exert myself too much. I am prepared but am also very scared.
-Probably won't get to study much tomorrow, I have to be somewhere! But I will review all my notes tomorrow morning and redo some questions from the
Error Log.
I will take the GMATPrep II for my ultimate assessment the day after. Along with the drink/snacks I have planned for the real thing. Hope it all works out and I get my target score.
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03-07-11: Flash Cards and Key Concepts ReviewI did not study at all since morning. But I managed to review my notebook. From tomorrow I will eat, drink and sleep GMAT!
Tomorrow will be the ultimate assessment of my prep. I hope I score well cause I don't want to postpone my test and I have already exhausted most of the material I have left.
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04-07-11: Big Day
With just 16 days to go, I have to take the GMATPrep II today so at least I can gauge whether I am prepared or not. Will review my concepts and take the test at the same time as the real thing is scheduled - 1 PM. I dunno how well I will do since I did not get much sleep last night. Also I am somewhat nervous and tensed. Will try Red Bull and an Energy Bar to see if at all they help!!! Wish me luck.
So I took the GMATPREP II and scored a meagre 700!! Q50 V34. The SCs were killer! Beyond anything I have ever seen. I am very upset now!
I have just 14 days to go and I don't know what to do now!!
I had 17 SC, 12 CR and 13 RC questions. It felt as if I am seeing only SCs!!! I guess I have to practise more SCs now! I ll time to pull out some big guns cause its now or never! I will do like 50 SCs tomorrow and more of verbal and verbal!
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05-07-2011:Verbal AnnihilationWith fewer than 15 days to go, and with a pathetic 700 on GMATPrep II, I am worried now. Started working through the Kaplan 800 SCs. Though I did make as many as 4 mistakes on CR as well, but only 1 of them was very difficult and otherwise rest of the answers made perfect sense to me. I could recognize patterns and realized where I had gone wrong. Some RCs that I saw were too complicated, very similar to the LSAT RC
passages!!
Took the final
MGMAT to score a 730 (q50 v40) Doesn't relieve me because the score is inflated and I am still plagued with mistakes. Each day passing makes me more worried. Still have another 4-5 day window before I decide whether I will take the test or reschedule. I want the former but I also want the score. It is what I had targetted when I started.
-Read some good debriefs and feel little more motivated now. I am burned out in Quant, leading to silly mistakes. So from tomorrow I will simply work through 10-15 quant problems, just to stay on track, and dedicate rest of the time to verbal. I have a feeling that even though my mocks say otherwise, I can achieve my desired test score on that 20th. Its just a very strong gut feeling.
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06-07-2011:Verbal Annihilation Continues
-Exactly two weeks to go from today. I won't take any mocks today. Just finish off Kaplan 800 SCs, but even those aren't as monstrous as the GMAT Prep SCs. Then practice
OG 10 RC, CR and SC for entire day. I will have to give in 7-8 hours of study today. Hate this but have to do it.
- Finished off the last 40 SCs from Kaplan 800 in 25 minutes- Got about 8 incorrect. But these were quite easy. No challenge whatsoever. Yet I got 8 incorrect - CONCENTRATE!
-Did 5 RCs back to back from
OG 10. Some had as many as 7 questions. But overall I got about 4 questions incorrect out of 25. Feel better, I spend an extra minute to understand the passage better, the answers became a cake walk.
- Read through CRs 100-150 from
OG 10. I got 1 incorrect, I knew the answers to all 50 of them from some place or the other. My head hurts now.
Deeper analysis reveals that the mistakes I made on RC and CR were merely concentration issues. The 4 RC questions I got incorrect, out them none were too complicated, but merely restatements of some sentence in the passage itself. I just missed it. Out of 4 CR questions, only 1 was extremely tough, rest all I could understand and was left with 2 options, where the option I did not choose turned out to be a STRONGER one.
- Did Paper Test 25
22 SCs - got 2 incorrect - 1 was a monster.
RC 1 - 2/8 incorrect.
RC 2 was a pathetic biology passage - I got 4/6 incorrect - I barely understood the passage.
RC 3 - 1/7 incorrect. I realise that I need to spend more time diagramming the passage. But with just 3-4 questions in the real test, it doesn't seem the have high returns.
22 CR - I knew the answers to all the questions!
- Did another last 30 SCs from
OG 10 - 4 incorrect, careless mistake. The explanations in
OG 10 are kinda sad but good practise. I remember seeing a couple and getting them incorrect on GMATPrep. Have a bad headache now for staring at the computer for 5-6 hours every day. Probably before sleeping I will revise Aristotle SC. Tomorrow - more practise!
-OK so I did not revise and I am dead sleepy. Night GMATClubbers!
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07-07-2011:Verbal Annihilation STILL Continues-Now just 13 days to go, I still have to finish the GMATPrep documents! Today I will practice as many as 10 RCs back-to-back (I can just imagine how boring it is going to be) Then more of SC and CR. When my head starts hurting, I will revise
MGMAT SC guide once and I also plan to watch some Thursdays with Ron videos, I ll start buffering them and watch them fast-fowarding! I am coming for you 750!!!!! BTW I hope my Quant accuracy hasn't crashed, else I am a goner!!
- Finished 30 SCs in 24 minutes - had seen most of them earlier but did not remember the answers - I got 1 incorrect.
- Did 5 RCs - 1/29 incorrect. They felt quite easy with diagramming - lots of scattered lists. I am beginning to recognize some patterns in GMAT RC. Quite often, it gives a list in the beginning of the passage and completes it at the end. One can expect a typical question from that list. Its easy when diagrammed but I am getting lost in the details to lose sight of the big picture. Time for a 30 minute break.
- My 30 minute break turned into a 90 minute break, Damn you FRIENDS!
Started with paper test 28 - Did 16 CR in 5 mins. Nothing to be excited - knew all the answers.
Some of the SCs in Paper Tests are really good. Not unnecessarily difficult but very very similar to those in the GMATPrep. Good practice! Its so typical, you get an RC question incorrect and when you read the explanation you say, damn, the stupid answer is right there in front of my eyes! Just hidden in the details.
- Did 16 CR questions from Paper Test - all new. I got 3 incorrect - there is huge disparity between easy and difficult questions. Easy ones are ridiculously simple whereas the tough ones are too convulted.
- Now I am watching Thursdays with RON videos. I buffered them beforehand so I could fast-forward and watch. The videos are kinda long 1.5 hours and slow,meant for the General Public. But everytime in those 1.5 hours there is a very important 2 minute advice that is not present in any forum or test book for that matter. So thats what I am looking for. Its a good watch when I am stressed with excess studying!
- So finally watched about 5 videos in 1.5 hours' time. Fair enough I came to know about some excellent concepts. I am sure I would have got them incorrect otherwise.
- I thought of revising SC Grail once but then DARK KNIGHT is telecasting. Sorry I can't say no to Heath Ledger! So I will watch this and start the Verbal Onslaught tomorrow again!!
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08-07-2011:Verbal Destruction -Nothing unique to do today, just the usual. Probably I will try to complete
OG 10 today and then do a couple of Paper tests. Quite many questions are known yet its good practice. 12 days to go and my heart is pounding.
Am I scared? Yes.
Am I nervous? Yes.
Am I jittery? Hell yes. But I will give it all I've got nevertheless.
- Working through Paper test 37.
SC 3/22 incorrect. 1 was too difficult for me. 2 silly mistakes. I got the extra toughies correct and stupid ones incorrect. (No guesses)
CR 2/16 incorrect. Very-very difficult CR questions and some felt as though they have been lifted from the LSAT. In the questions concerning percentages, ratios and averages, almost always the most weirdest and incomprehensible answer choice is correct. Very important to use POE table in such cases.
RC 1/12 incorrect. Got all the answers correct of a very difficult RC passage on feminism. The 3rd passage on the paper test is usually very difficult!
-Raw score to verbal comes as 43! Good Job - considering I did not know any of the answers this time.
- Working through Paper test 42
SC 1/22 incorrect. That incorrect one is a big hole in my skill. Time to work on such problems.
CR 3/16 incorrect. Got it incorrect because I did not read the entire sentence clearly. Read advantage as disadvantage. Need to Concentrate!
RC 5/18 incorrect. All 5 incorrect ones are from a sad passage on astronomy. Most of the incorrect ones - I did not read all the choices. I did not understand too much. I have to anticipate a monstrous RC and perform well on it!!!
- Raw score comes to a 40! Not bad. Just need to be a little scrappier on that ONE monster RC!
- Time for some more Thursday with RON videos. I tried watching but they are too slow. Guess its time I move from them.
- The Quant questions in the paper tests are a joke. Very calculation intensive but very easy. Nothing compared to the problems even in GMATPrep. But Verbal is decent. Another 3 tests to go before I can reassess my progress. If this doesn't help, I daresay nothing will.
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09-07-2011:Verbal Madness- Including today, I have just 11 more days to go. I also need to finish off GMAT Prep Documents and Reviewing them properly will take time. So today I plan to finish off the 3 remaining paper tests. One right now. One in the afternoon and then one in the evening. With proper review of mistakes and difficult ones.
But yesterday I read that ETS Papers are very different from what GMAT is right now. This makes me wonder, if this is so, why is GMAC selling those papers at such high prices. Just a money making scam? Seems unfair. And if they are so different, why are those questions included in the Official Guides ? Nevertheless no time to think about this, need to get back to studying!!
- Working through paper test 48:
0/22 SC incorrect. Finished in 17 minutes. Quite easy I'll have to say. Not that complicated.
3/10 CR incorrect. I have no clue what is happening. These CR questions are so difficult!! They too convulted. I guess I'd rather not do them. Time to move on to RC.
3/18 RC incorrect. BREAK TIME!
I'm back in line and keeping eye on your progress.
close
08 Aug 2011, 00:56
(you posted 01/07/11 but you should 01/08/11) 
